The Effects of Motion Sickness on Balance and Gait

Abstract

Background: The term “motion sickness” (also called “kinetosis”) describes a set of symptoms that occur in
association with motion of a person or his or her surroundings, triggering a stress reaction that results in autonomic
symptoms. The onset is often insidious, with drowsiness/yawning, dizziness, reduced alertness, and symptoms
progress through cold sweating, pallor, excessive salivation, and occasionally headache, to nausea and vomiting
with incapacitation that can be severe. Motion sickness usually occurs due to a visuo-vestibular conflict. Part of it
is psychological as well as the symptoms of motion sickness are triggered in some people by just reading about it.
Method: A cross-sectional study was performed in college going students for six months using the MSSQ-short
and the Mini BESTest to assess the susceptibility of motion sickness as well as balance and gait respectively.
Conclusion: Balance and gait was found to be significantly affected in people with motion sickness.